News & Updates — space age

Happy birthday to the Italian-American sculptor and sound artist Harry Bertoia! He was a jewelry-maker and designer who hit big with some finely crafted chairs. This allowed him to concentrate on creating these unique sound sculptures that lived in his barn that doubled as a mini concert hall. He would strike or "play" these things and the sound would reverberate into my amazed eardrums. I first heard these otherwordly sounds when a cache of self-produced "Sonambient" albums were found and distributed to the public in the mid-1990s. I bought a few of these records and still treasure them to this...

The brand new record from Miami’s Spam Allstars is chock-full of tropical electro space-funk spiced with a heady dose of Cuban flavors. Instant Trans-Oceanic beach party! Download card with the extra bonus track "Agua de Poço" included! The six-piece Spam Allstars have been at the forefront of Miami's creative musical blending for twenty years. Founded by turntablist/producer/engineer DJ Le Spam to create electronic descargas, those compelling improvisational Latin jams, but this time with funk, electro & hiphop elements. Through the course of six albums, international touring, interesting collaborations with the likes of Phish side project Vida Blue and Rumberos de la Ocho, and a...

Peace & Rhythm and C.A.M.P.O.S. team up to present the world premiere of C.A.M.P.O.S.'s new video for "My Bird Has Many Voices" (Mother's Mix). This is the latest of a string of videos to songs off of the Miracles & Criminals 2xLP, available now direct from Peace & Rhythm or wholesale from Forced Exposure distribution. The video was again created by Croaker Norge. (If you would like to see the previous videos made for the album, click here, here and here. Purchase the album direct from our webshop. "My Bird...": Last month, we were thrilled to see the inclusion of...

The Voice of the Galaxies, June Tyson was the cosmic lead vocalist in Sun Ra's band from '68 until her death. She was also a dancer and helped design costumes for the Arkestra members, as well as played some violin in later years. I highly recommend the classic low-budget blaxploitation sci-fi flick Space Is The Place. Check out June and the Arkestra in this clip: And here's a bonus interview with June:

The king of Space Age Bachelor Pad Music, the wacky Mexican bandleader and self-taught pianist Esquivel has delighted us with bizarre arrangements and compositions that blended fully-composed jazz influence with mariachi, Brazilian music, twisted mambo, "exotic" percussion, an avant-garde approach to orchestral pop and he was a pioneer in the field of stereophonic recording. He remains the most important name in so-called "lounge music' and his music, being so far ahead of its time, stands as completely off-the-wall.